


Ice Floss: Crystal Crisis

by Sombrastrike



Series: Ice Floss [2]
Category: Splatoon, coroika- Fandom
Genre: Ice Floss, Ice Ink, Sugar Splats, similiar to SplatRoad
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-01-03
Updated: 2020-04-15
Packaged: 2021-02-25 09:14:24
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 12
Words: 11,924
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22093627
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sombrastrike/pseuds/Sombrastrike
Summary: It had been awhile since Ice Ink and Sugar Splats' latest adventures. To put it simply, each team had gained an octoling member, everyone had discovered their own abilities, the teams had joined forces to be called 'Ice Floss', and had made some new allies, as well as enemies. When one of their old foes, Victoria, decides to switch targets for jewelry theft, it's up to Ice floss to stop the crazy cat villain before it's too late.first official story in the HailStorm Ice Floss series
Relationships: Agent 3 & Agent 4 & Agent 8 (Splatoon), Inkling(s) & Inkling(s) (Splatoon), Inkling(s) & Octoling(s) (Splatoon)
Series: Ice Floss [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1584274
Kudos: 1





	1. Prologue: Catching Up

**Author's Note:**

> Hi everyone! Welcome to the first book in the HailStorm Ice Floss series! Feel Free to leave a comment down below and enjoy!~
> 
> Written By: HailStorm and KySketch  
> Splatoon belongs to Nintendo  
> Splatoon Manga characters belong to Coroika  
> Victoria is inspired off of Empress from A Hat In Time  
> Songs used do not belong to us, and belong to their rightful owners

It had been a while since Ice Ink and Sugar Splat’s latest adventures. To be caught up to speed, Haley basically had ice powers, as well as her teammates and her friends. Verde has electric powers, and Flame has fire powers, which helps them to get a speed boost when they need it. Indigo has water abilities, and Coral wind, which help them to hydro jump and sky jump respectively. As for Rosa, the gang isn’t quite sure what it is, if she has any at all. 

Ice Ink and Sugar Splats also recruited two octolings, Leaf and Thorn. Leaf has plant powers, which align with how Hail’s abilities work. As for Thorn, he’s got poison abilities, which act similar to both Hail and Indigo’s abilities, along with the added ability of dark powers, which mostly manifests in Thorn being a walking jinx. In this sense, anything that can go wrong around him WILL go wrong, and because of this, Sugar Splats had to work a lot to get the money to pay for the damage.

Along with their abilities, each member of Ice Floss also has a guardian. They got them from when they first discovered their powers, with a telepathic link often connecting the guardian to their stormling. They met up with each other in private locations to discover what the guardian’s abilities are, and the best way to contact them, and disguise them from watching eyes. Sombra is Hail’s guardian, and often hides in her shadow using her ghost and dark abilities. However she disliked bright light being shone directly at her (the daytime doesn’t count). Ligera, Leaf’s guardian, often would use her psychic abilities to see into the future to help out Ice Floss when they need it, such as giving them a warning for Thorn’s jinx. She couldn’t use this too much though, as overuse caused her to exhaust quickly. All in all, it was pretty neat having them as allies.

Aloha and the S4 had been watching over them like hawks, though. Aloha believed that their powers were dangerous, and considered them to be a threat to others. The teams did their best to stay away from him and avoid him at all costs. They were also very careful around using their powers in turf. They didn’t want to be disqualified for cheating.

For a long time, a street cat themed adult inkling named Victoria had always been after Haley for her ice ink, to use them for jewelry to sell on the black market. However, she was no match for Ice Ink and Sugar Splats, who teamed up in the long run to form Ice Floss. She had been beaten to the ground so much and so hard that she had decided to completely give up on Haley. She began scanning the dark web, looking for any other way to make a profit with her company and her nyakuza minions. She just so happened to stumble upon an extremely expensive brand of metal.

Curious, she followed it deeper and deeper, only to find out that the brand was run by...Crystallings? Upon further investigation, she found it. Their company website. Looking further, she saw that...these cephalopods could create crystals with their ink? Well, that certainly seemed....interesting.

She smiled, rubbing her hands together.

She had a plan.

And a new target.


	2. Chapter 1: New Problem

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here's the First chapter of Ice Floss: Crystal Crisis! Feel free to leave a comment and enjoy! Stay Fresh!~

In Inkopolis Square, hanging out by the tables by Crusty Sean’s Shack, there were 5 inklings, and 2 octolings, four girls, and three boys.They make up the group known as Ice Floss, a group composed of two teams, Ice Ink and Sugar Splats. They were waiting for their violet tipped friend to show up, as per usual for their gang, and decided to talk to help pass the time. 

“You know guys, I’m getting a feeling of deja-vu from this.” Coral stated, brushing her seafoam green tipped tentacle out of her face, “You remember, when Hail accidentally froze her special?”

“Yeah, how could we forget? Hail became more nervous about been seen than ever before! Speaking of her, does anyone got any news of her whereabouts? You know, in case of more trouble?” Indigo replied, sitting up a little straighter in his seat so he could look over his shoulder.

“I texted her earlier, and she said she might be running late. Honestly, I think her and that Goggles kid are competing to see who can be late the most times!” Rosa exclaimed, throwing her arms in the air.

She nearly knocked over her drink in the process. Thorn made sure to back up from her, as to not make the situation worse.

“Well, Ligera told me that Sombra might have caught wind of some of Victoria’s crew making a jump on Hail today. So, maybe that’s why she might be late.” Leaf stated matter of factly, calmly adjusting the zipper on her vest. 

Unknownst to the group, a certain orange colored inkling with a special beret and a lime green inkling with a black leather jacket a few tables down started paying more attention to the conversation. Nobody saw them. 

“Wait, seriously?! You’re kidding, right? I mean, I know Victoria is still after her, cause of the bounty still being there, but, to try to jump her? I guess this cat’s more crazy about jewels that I thought.” Verde muttered, turned her gaze away from the octoling. 

“You know, I always wondered why she decided to go after Hail. I mean, I get the whole ‘Ice Ink’ thing an all, and that it’s rare, but what can she really gain from her ability? A new winter jewelry collection, perhaps?” Flame questioned, putting his finger on his chin. 

“Maybe, but doesn’t she know that ice melts? Hail’s ability is no different!” Thorn exclaimed, before wincing at the crash and shout coming from the table behind him. 

“Sorry!” He shouted. 

The rest of the gang winced, before noticing the dark purple shadow snaking its way across the floor toward them, leading from the train station. 

“Hey, isn’t that Sombra? What’s she doing solo? She’s usually with Hail, right?” Flame asked, getting sounds of agreement from the others. 

“She is. Let’s go see what she wants. She probably got some info on the cat lady, as well as Hail.” Leaf stated, standing up to go meet the shadow guardian, with the rest of Ice Floss standing up to follow her. 

The shadow quickly ducked behind a corner, then, out walked a female inkling with brown tentacles in a ponytail, purple tips swaying as she walked. 

“Sombra! Where’s Hail? Isn’t she usually with you?” Verde demanded, glaring a little at the guardian before her. 

“Woah, woah, woah! What’s with the attitude, Tres? Hail’s coming right behind me. She’s just causing a little distraction for the kittens to get miss gato loco off her back once and for all! Just give her a minute.” Sombra smugly replied, crossing her arms. “In fact, here she should be coming now.” 

True to Sombra’s words, a teal squid super jumped into Sombra’s arms, just as two inklings ran past with cat ears and face masks on, holding bottles of violet ice with teal spots, Hail’s signature ability. Hail herself then transformed back and got out of Sombra’s arms, dusting off her north country parka as she straightened up. 

“Well, that was the craziest train rush hour I think I ever did. I hope you guys weren’t waiting too long.” Hail sheepishly said, rubbing the back of neck from embarrassment. 

“Nah, it’s okay. At least you’re safe, no?” Indigo sighed, relieved to see her safe.

“Yeah...I guess you’re right.”

“Anywho, what’s the scoop, Sombra? Have you seen anything worthy of us knowing?” Flame asked, arms crossed.

“Besides the fact that Hail rode on top of the train to get here, while avoiding and taking out three of the five nyakuza members with nothing but the top of the metro tunnel and swinging her brella like a baseball bat? Not much, heh” Sombra chuckled.

“Wait, what? Hail! Why did you ride ON TOP of the train!?” Leaf yelled, whipping her head around to look at her teammate with a shocked expression.

“Umm, I wanted a change of scenery?” Hail sheepishly replied, shrugging nervously.

Leaf groaned and shook her head in disappointment.

“Riiiiiight.”

“Well, it’s not the craziest thing I’ve done?” Hail said with a nervous smile.

“That’s true. I have seen you do more crazy things. That being said, however, PLEASE be careful!” Leaf exclaimed, clearly worried for her friend’s safety.

“Okay, okay, I will...you can get off me already” Hail replied, having dealt with multiple cases of Mom Leaf™ before.

Sombra cleared her throat.

“Anywho, me n’ Ligera have seen somethin’ from the future, and we got good news, and bad news.”

Hail sighed. She wasn’t ready for this.

“Go for it” she mumbled quickly, wanting to get it done with as soon as possible.

“Good news: Victoria isn’t after you anymore” Sombra said with a smile.

Hail was kind of surprised at this. An old enemy, gone like that? Had she actually given up? Were their old time worries FINALLY over? But wait, the bad news. Hail’s shoulders slumped.

“And the bad news?”

“She’s after a whole new species” Sombra replied.

“And that species is?” Hail asked, already dreading what the answer could be.

Sombra took a deep inhale.

“Crystalings.”


	3. Chapter 2: New Location

Ice Floss stared at her in silence. Was that a new species? When had they popped up in society?

“Cr...Crystalings?” Hail stammered in disbelief.

“Yeah, uh. I don’t think we’ve ever heard of those, Sombra. What are they?” Verde uttered, still in shock over the news.

“Well, we guardians don’t quite know ourselves, but judging by the name, they probably have crystal powers or something. Either way, if Victoria’s after them, we have to find where they live and warn them. Or, y’know. Protect em” Sombra shrugged.

“Yeah, that sounds good. Only one problem, how in the world are we going to find where they live?! It’s not like we got a map or anything we can use to find then?!” Rosa exclaimed.

“Well, if we’re gonna look, we’d better start now!” Thorn said, now sensing the urgency of the situation.

“But where the heck do we start?” Coral asked.

Verde thought for a moment.

“We could try Octo Canyon to see if Callie or Marie have any knowledge on them” Verde said.

“Well, probably not my best choice, but I guess it’s all we have I guess” Indigo mumbled.

Flame nodded in agreement.

“Yeah. Let’s go.”

So all of the stormlings followed Verde into the grates of Octo Canyon. Shortly after, they popped out on the other side. The place was still beautiful as it always was, With Verde, Hail, Leaf and Thorn leading the charge. The Squid Sisters looked surprised to see the group when they came out of the grates.

“Ah! Agent 4! It’s good to see you again. What do you need?” Marie remarked with a calm smile, happy to see the teal inkling.

“Wait a minute. Hail, YOU”RE Agent 4?! How come you’ve never told me?” Indigo blurted, full of shock.

“Well, we’re called secret agents for a reason, you know” Verde mentioned, rolling her eyes a little.

“Verde, you knew?!” Flame exclaimed.

“Well, yeah. Duh, of course I knew! I’m Agent 3, While Leaf is Agent 8, and Thorn is 7” Verde explained.

“Oh...right…”

Hail shook her head and re-focused on the task at hand.

“Anyways, we have some questions we’d like to ask,” she said, turning to the squid sisters.

Callie tilted her head, interested.

“Oh?”

“Yeah. Have you two ever heard of...Crystalings?” Hail asked, as if unsure if she was asking about the right thing.

Callie and Marie stared at the stormlings for a bit. Then Callie took a breath in once she realized what they were talking about, similar to a dragged out gasp.

“Yes! The cephalopods with the crystal ink! I know them! They gave me a pretty necklace once, but I lost it…”

“Wait, what? Do you remember where their home is?!” Leaf exclaimed.

“Oh, definitely not. This was maybe 1 or 2 years ago. Sorry” Callie replied.

“Well...do you at least...have a map of where they live?” Thorn asked.

“Well no, but I could check” Marie said. “I’ll be right back.”

Hail could have sworn she heard Marie mumbling something about how a different squidbeak got their map torn up and lost by some other foe, but she couldn’t hear all of it. Marie went inside the hut, and a minute or so later came out with an old, dusty map. It had sides of it ripped and taped back together with clear tape, but it looked ancient as heck. Marie held it out, and Ice Floss gathered around it to see. Sure enough, it showed the west side of inkopolis.

“Wow...is that it?” Coral asked, in awe of the map.

“Why don’t you take the map from my hand and have a look yourself?” Marie grumbled.

Sighing at her rudeness, Hail gently took the paper from Marie’s grasp. Sure enough, she saw the eastern parts of Inkopolis, including parts of the plaza on the map. She and the others scanned the piece of paper for anything that could possibly lead to Crystalings, whether it be villages or stray homes, or anything related. Sure enough, they found a crystal cave that was in the eastmost part of inkopolis. That could be a possibility, seeing as the other towns nearby were things like “Verdent City” and “Tumble Town”, seemingly based on a forest and a desert respectively. Besides, crystals were basically the only thing Victoria ever went after.

“So uh. How do we get there?” Thorn asked.

“I dunno, figure that out for yourselves” Marie replied. “Come on, Callie. We have to buy the ingredients for Gramps’ favorite dinner tonight.”

“Oh right! I forgot about that!” Callie exclaimed. She turned to wave to the stormlings. “Good luck!”

And with that, the two had walked past the group and sunk into the grates back to inkopolis. Upon getting back, they began to head over to the eastern side of Inkopolis, near the Plaza and Beyond. However, before they could…

“Wait! Don’t you think we should...train or something first? Maybe take snacks or something? If we’re gonna walk there, then we need to be prepared!” Thorn exclaimed.

“Ooooooh yeeeeaaaah...right...that would probably be a good idea” Flame said sheepishly.

"So I guess training it is, then?" Verde asked.

Coral nodded.

"Yeah. training it is. Never hurts to be too prepared."

Ice Floss, instead of using turf for practice, focused more on private practice in Sheldon's place. They didn't want to be interrupted with their training, especially since this would allow them to use their powers. If this was a trip in the woods, then they'd be perfectly fine. No civilizations thinking that they were dangerous (yet), and nobody probably even knew about them. Then again, Flame's fire could be an issue if gone unnoticed, so Indigo had made sure to up his game with water training.

It took a while, but once everybody was done, they realized that it was closer to evening than they thought. Not wanting to make the dangerous trek in the nighttime, all of them agreed to meet up by Crusty Sean's truck again tomorrow and head off through the forest, to the Crystal Caves. They all said farewell and departed, wishing each other the best. At home, they ate and began packing for the trip for the next day.

This was gonna be big.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you are enjoying this so far! If you have any questions, feel free to leave a comment down below! Stay Fresh everyone!~


	4. Chapter 3: New Journey

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I forgot to post this here after I posted it on wattpad. Whoops.
> 
> Ice Floss start their journey to the caves!

The next day, everyone met back up by the truck as promised. Nobody was late, but everyone still arrived at a decent time, with Leaf only needing Ligera to use a teensy portion of her power to make sure everyone would get here okay. Even Hail had arrived on time for once, shocking the group.

“Hail! You’re actually on time for once! I’m proud of you.” Rosa teased, nudging Hail a little in the shoulder.

“Yeah, I actually managed to get to sleep at a decent time so I could wake up to my alarm. Now can we PLEASE just get going?” Hail pleaded, annoyed at the jab her friend took.

“Sure we can! We have everything we need, right? Snacks, weapons, extra clothes?” Thorn remarked, listing the items off on his fingers. 

“Yeah, I think we got everything. Though, I am wondering why you think we needed to bring grappling hooks, of all things…” Rosa stated, turning to look at her octoling teammate with skepticism in her gaze.

Thorn just shrugged in response, but then a table crashed behind him, and a lamppost fell over to his left. He winced and his eyes went wide, his head slowly turning around to stare at the damage behind him. He let out an audible "sorry" in said direction, then turned back around. Rosa just sighed, shaking her head at the poor octoling.

“Right, Murphy’s Law. Nearly forgot about that.” Rosa muttered, hoping that they wouldn't have to deal with too much of this on their trip to the gates.

“Anywho, let’s head out!” Flame said, ready to start walking.

The group began their trek through inkopolis. As they walked through, they made sure the S4 didn’t spot them. They also made sure to be careful with Thorn, as he would occasionally cause a broken window, lamp pole, or table. They passed by many people, a duo of a dark green and pink octoling talking with one another, a tall pink octoling giving a small cyan-pink inkling a piggy back ride, and more. They also spotted advertisements for products plastered all over the city.

One such poster snagged Hail's eye. A black one, with a diamond jewel that had been scratched by 5 claws to look like a crown...Victoria's symbol. She had seen it peeking out from a bunch of other advertisements, although this one looked relatively...new? She walked over to it, and the group paused as she did so. Carefully peeling the other advertisements off this one, she had a good look at it.

It read:

Out with the old, in with the new! Victoria's victory jewelry is now opening a brand new stock! We're getting new brands of crystals, which are absolutely vitreous and sturdy in comparison to the old gems, which just...melted in disappointment. As usual, only the ones worthy of said jewelry may receive it, as we still keep our sky-high prices. However, it is all in good favor, as we use this money to make greater and better jewelry! Coming to a store near you, OR, visit our shop within the Nyakuza Metro, were anybody down there can guide you to it!

Hail stared at the paper in disgust. If what Sombra had said was true, then that meant that Victoria really WAS after the Crystalings. The others gathered around her to have a look themselves, so Hail showed them the paper. Once everyone was done reading it, Flame burnt it in his fist and tossed it into the garbage. Nobody needed to hear from Victoria, ever.

As they continued on, Hail kept on a lookout for more posters, while team Sugar Splats kept a close eye on Thorn. Hail saw less posters, even with the rest of her team on the lookout as well. The group just kept walking anyways, hoping they wouldn't get trouble on the way. They had the map with them, and they had heard about the dangers of the forest before. Shadowy creatures liked lurking in the woods at night near the southeastern parts of the place, so the group would just have to be careful to maintain a (mostly) straight line for the trip.

There were also mutant fish that lived there. There were the occasional humanoid species in there, but they were more likely to run into the usual Fangteeth, Anglers, occasional flying thing, coral antlers, etc. etc. than an actual humanoid fish, or cephalopod. They also had to be careful with using their magic, because if Victoria ever got to the forest, she could follow any trail they left behind. As they kept on trekking through the city, they began forming plans. Plans to stop Victoria once and for all.

They could trick her into jumping into a smooth stone lined pit by using gems of the sort. Then again, she was catlike, and who knew what she was capable of. None of them wanted to risk killing her, as they weren't ready to be responsible for any sort of work or trouble it involved afterwards. They really just had to capture her and hand her into the police, though even that was hard because of her cat reflexes and speed. Hail sighed as she dismissed basically every plan in her head.

They had passed through the plaza without much of a problem, as few people were there. It was odd, seeing the place that once used to be the "inkopolis square" of the time. They kept right on walking, and before long, saw the gate ahead of them. They sped up the pace, just so that they could get there quicker.

At last, they arrived at the eastern inkopolis gates, pausing for a breath of fresh air. The gates were pretty huge, but just ahead of them laid the forest path that they needed to take. Everyone stopped just to do a final check. They went through bags and made sure nothing was forgotten. Once they were sure, they packed back up, and pushed the gates open, closing the gates behind them.

And off they went, into the forest. Hopefully Victoria was nowhere near close to the cave.


	5. Chapter 4: Old Foe

Outside within the forest already, an adult inkling sat, tapping her fingers impatiently on the cart. Her black tentacles that shifted to red at the ends swayed in the light breeze. Two came up behind her head like cat ears, while one long tentacle hung by the left side of her face, where a scar resided as well. Her red scarf, torn at the ends, also blew back behind her as the cart's speed made them drift behind her. The cart was being pulled by 10 nyakuza thugs, with her sitting inside. She groaned at the boring sight of trees surrounding her. She had seen enough of these.

“Ugh, can’t you miserable felines go any faster?” she groaned. 

“W-we can c-certainly t-try, m-miss Vict-toria!” a nyakuza thug stuttered.

"You heard her, STEP ON IT!" another thug shouted.

For a few seconds, the group actually sped up the pace. Victoria watched them as they groaned in effort, though they DID actually manage to pull the cart faster. It had been like this for hours, but she wasn’t about to ruin her lovely coat by walking through bushes and brambles all day. She was going to save her coat getting ruined for higher tier stuff like that, like battles, or risking herself for a huge, pure gem. Hopefully though, she wouldn’t have to deal with too much trouble in the long run. Going on this trip without taking any damage at all would be a rather great achievement.

The trip had started about two days ago or so, right on the day Victoria had first discovered the Crystaling brands. Victoria had heard about the caves from the website she was on. Hearing that there was one nearby inkopolis had gotten her excited, so since there was no metro train over there, she had taken the long way. In the night time, she would sleep in the cart (which was covered in the finest velvet and softest materials, mind you) while the thugs slept on the ground. She promised them she would pay them big time if they did this for her, so they’d agreed.

Now, this did not mean the adventure had gone without its troubles, though Victoria wished it could have just run as smooth as butter. The group had had many attacks from forest creatures in the first night. Mutant fangteeth, mutant anglerfish, Even one mutant stargazer showed up to have an intimidation contest with Victoria while the thugs hid behind the cart. Victoria had won, but only because she had pulled out her portable weapon, a kensa splattershot pro that was heavily altered, and fired it once into the air. It had made a loud BANG as it was rebuilt to do, and that got the stargazer to back down and flee. Victoria didn't like that one. She had to get out of the cart to do that. She got back in of course, but that was probably the most effort she'd done within the whole trip.

The cart had also been chased by several hostile birds and flying species on occasion, for trespassing through their territory. The thugs suffered quite a lot, being pecked at and clawed at while running. Victoria, on the other hand, had a blast, and made it a game to see how many birds she could snatch out of the air and kill...to eat for later or something. The thugs had made it out okay though, and their wounds healed over time. Victoria had actually cooked some of the birds upon reaching a place to stop for the night, though she gave none of it to her thugs. They were stuck eating any wild berries they could find.

They noticed that wildlife actually seemed to be AFRAID of them after a while. It was nice, as they weren't bothered by anything anymore. Anything that came up to them and tried to challenge them was quickly scared away with a gunshot. Easy as that. The weather didn't change, as it always remained relatively warm with a gentle breeze. This was no issue for anyone.

For a long time, Victoria had YEARNED for crystals like those. After she had realized that Hail's Ice ink melted after a while, she was desperate for something to save her before something worse happened. Her business had begun declining since she ran out of proper jewelry to sell, and she needed something fast. She felt grateful that the net had supplied her with that metal option. Now she could finally achieve her goals.

She had to admit though, this trip was getting longer by the day, and she didn't like it one bit. She was an impatient woman, unless she was promised great rewards for waiting so long. She wasn't actually promised these gems, she was just heading here because that's where she believed they were. Even if it hadn't been a week long trip, it still bothered her greatly. She had waited...

But today. Today would be different. She knew it. They had been traveling for too long now, and she was sure that they would make it. She just hoped that Hail kid and her friends weren't there. That would ruin the whole thing.

She sighed, closing her eyes and attempting to fall asleep within the cart. If this was going to take forever, the least she could do was quickly pass time from her perspective.

Suddenly, she felt the cart stop.

"Victoria! I think we're here!" on thug shouted.

Well. So much for that.

Victoria sat up from laying down, groaning from a failed attempt at a nap. In front of her she indeed saw a cave, with tiny gemstones lining the entrance. She smiled greatly, but made no move to harvest those small ones. There were DEFINITELY bigger ones inside, and she knew it. She hopped out of the cart as the other thugs went to hide it somewhere where it wouldn't get messy. She stepped closer to the entrance, grinning from ear to ear.

At last, they had arrived at the Crystal Caves.


	6. Chapter 5: New Mission

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Now outside of the Inkopolis gates, Ice Floss begin their trek in the forest to the Crystal Caves.

The forest surprisingly was calmer than Ice Floss expected. The path the group was on was lined with trees and shrubs with the occasional large rock, but other than that, nothing really worthwhile was there. They expected at least SOME flowers or something, but nope. It was rather pretty though. The weather wasn’t so bad either. It was decently warm, with a nice gentle breeze. Hail still complained a little at the wind chill, though.

The trek there was pretty calm. For the most part, they didn’t have too many troubles. There didn’t seem to be anyone following them or bugging them. The forest was filled with the sounds of insects, birds, and trees and plants swaying. The trees were all tall and thick, with plenty of dense bushes and other shrubbery in between. 

Occasionally, the group saw some thorny vines wrapping around the trees, and some fly traps along the ground. The team was following a well spaced dirt and gravel pathway, looking at the map every so often to make sure they were heading the right way. The friends could talk amongst themselves quietly as they walked through the shrubbery. They talked about plans and strategies, they talked about memes and jokes, they talked about almost everything. Of course, eventually these conversations died back down, and the talks were reduced to “watch that” or “don’t trip there” or “be careful.”

The group still had to deal with Thorn’s jynx, but, it was surprisingly less intense than what it was in Inkopolis, something Ice Floss-especially Sugar Splats-appreciated. It was really only tripping over rocks and roots, a branch falling off a tree here or there, and even an occasional overripe fruit falling from a tree onto someone’s head, which actually wasn’t that bad. It was just a little hard to clean up after the juices spilled everywhere. The group just avoided fruit trees after that. And nuts and hard things.

They enjoyed the parts of the forest where terrain changed, things like hills and piles of rocks along their sides. They had to admit, they may or may not have messed around on the hills a bit to reduce their now-growing boredom. Leaf especially enjoyed sunning herself on any of the large rocks sitting in the sunlight, with Flame occasionally joining her. The group occasionally found rivers or streams, and, while staying a little further back from them, admired them. They didn’t see anything interesting in them though. 

Yes, they could swim. But 1: they didn’t know WHAT kind of nasty stuff had been in that water, and 2: they were still on a mission, and couldn’t stop for long. They wanted to swim in that though. Despite the warm heat not being that much of a bother, it would be refreshing to get a swim in. They just kept walking onwards anyways.

It had been a while, and now people were starting to get a little tired. There was barely any talking amongst teammates anymore. Everyone was desperate for a way out of it. They didn’t say anything, but all of them were looking for something to do. Suddenly, Coral got an idea.

“Hey, why don’t we play a game to pass the time?” she asked, hoping to cure everyone’s boredom. 

Verde shrugged.  
“As long as we don’t stray too far from the map path, I guess we’re good?”

“Okay, let’s do I spy! I spy with my little eye...something green!” Coral immediately said.

Everybody groaned at that one.

“Okay, okay, I’ll pick another one, sheesh. Umm…I spy…”

Suddenly Coral froze. “UH, A HUGE MUTANT FISH HEADED RIGHT FOR US!”

Everyone froze as well and quickly turned to look around. Sure enough, there was a giant...um. The group didn’t recognize the fish, but that didn’t matter, they just had to RUN. They began running ahead instead of off to the side or back or anywhere else. However, they WERE hoping for something from the side to appear to hide them. They tried not to look back, but every time they did it only got worse.

The mutant fish was a brownish color and had a seemingly pointy nose. It was running on all fours towards them, mouth open. Perhaps it was hungry, and trying to eat them. The group then realized they had powers, and tried to make it go away. 

“Do we know of anything that we think would work?!” Rosa yelled.

“Electric and Poison might, but that’s still too risky!” Hail yelled back, looking around desperately for something to use.

“What about grass?!” Leaf shouted.

“That might by us some time, but I’m not sure! Whatever you do, try not to get caught!” Hail shouted, looking back to see how far it was behind them.

It was probably a few feet, but it was close enough that if any one of them stopped for even a second, they would be swallowed whole. Hail only sped up faster after seeing this. She was PANICKING. But Ice Floss couldn’t run forever. Everyone’s stamina started dropping, and they needed a way out of this situation, FAST.

Just up ahead, there was a very large rock that could hide them all if they were fast enough. As they approached it, they quickly took a turn to it, but slid around to the other side as the mutant fish turned the corner with them, making it to run away from them. The group sighed in relief and began catching their breaths.

“I think we lost it…” Indigo said.

All of them were still panting and out of breath.

“Sombra? Ligera? Anyone? What WAS that?!” Hail exclaimed.

“Ah. That was a mutant Kaluga, a type of sturgeon.” Ligera calmly explained.

Flame stared at her. “IT WAS SO BIG THOUGH!” he exclaimed.

“Yeah, their species can grow to be pretty big. Guess it was hungry, considering the fact they’ll eat anything that fits into their mouths.”

“Well, that explains why it had its mouth open…” Indigo grumbled.

“At least we used that as a boost forward” Coral said.

“True. I think our progress is going along pretty nicely!” Thorn agreed.

“You think we’re close?” Leaf asked.

“Hopefully we don’t have THAT much longer…” Flame groaned.

Well.

They would just have to wait and see.


	7. Chapter 6: New Gemstones

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I forgot to update this in a while, Whoops. It's time for Victoria's side of the story!

Victoria had tried to contain her excitement as she entered the caves. Crystals lined the walls of the cave, and she had to restrain herself from simply picking out said jewels from their spots. Gems both flat and round covered the floors of the place as well, and increased the deeper she walked in. She had told her thugs to wait outside for her, as she didn’t want their small brains ruining anything here. She continued down the twisty path of the caves, towards the lights she thought she saw at the end of the place.

Once she reached the end, she tried to hold in a shriek of joy, which came out as a high pitched "eek!". There, in front of her, was a very large town area, absolutely ADORNED with jewels. Everywhere she looked, she saw gems and crystals of all sorts. On the ground, on the cave roof, on stalactites and stalagmites, on HOUSES, BUILDINGS, and EVEN ON THE CITIZENS. She felt her heart race, as she couldn't wait to get started with harvesting.

But she was smarter than that, and knew that she had to plan her way to victory. These Crystalings wouldn't just GIVE her gems, she would have to do something to...befriend them, perhaps. She walked down the ramps attached to where she was standing, as the entrance was a little higher than town grounds. She had a look around, but not before being noticed by a pair of Crystalings. She stopped in her tracks, and let them walk over. She noticed that their ink colors were actually crystal patterned as they got closer.

"A new face...we've certainly never seen you around here before!" a male Crystaling exclaimed.

"Yes, well...I just got here. My friend um...told me she got her jewelry from this place, and so I decided to check it out!" Victoria lied with ease.

"Oh yes, yes! Many Crystaling companies here make MILLIONS on cash off of their products!" a female Crystaling said.

Now THIS perked Victoria's interest. She already had a few million from the wares she sold. Adding more and more could...possibly make her a BILLIONAIRE. Ooooh, she just couldn't WAIT to get started!

"I see. Well, it was nice knowing you, I think I'll look around some more" Victoria replied, starting to walk away.

"Good luck finding what you need!" Victoria heard behind her, and the two Crystalings went back to their business.

Victoria looked down at the ground and quickly pocketed a few of the gems: a sapphire, an aquamarine, an emerald, and a citrine. Some cut, some rounded off. She couldn't wait to take one of those massive ones from the cave walls off. She continued down the path, but heard the sound of struggling. Normally, she would be annoyed by it (unless it was the sounds of Ice Floss struggling), but her heart leapt at the sound of it. This could be her chance to start helping the Crystalings!

She ran over to the noise, following her ears (her real ones, not her mock cat ones) as best she could. The sound led her to two young Crystalings trying to reach a ball (not a crystal ball) on top of a roof. In the blink of an eye, she leapt up to the roof with her cat skills, snagged the ball, and brought it back down to the two. She was rewarded with only a cheerful "thank you miss!" before the crystal children ran away, continuing their ball game. She sighed, having expected a bigger prize. Oh well, she would have to be patient.

She heard more people, and ran over. These worker Crystalings seemed to be struggling to remove a large green crystal the size of a table that had seemingly fallen from the cave ceiling and crashed into the roof of a home, breaking some tiles. She ran over to help them pull it out, and although she wasn't too strong, with her help the Crystalings got it out faster.

"Sooo...what are you going to do with that very large crystal, hmm?" she asked in a very faked "interested" accent.

"Oh, we plan on using this for more jewelry. You could probably take a small piece from it though, for helping us out!" one Crystaling with a hard hat said.

They pulled out a hammer and chisel, and chipped away at the gem a bit. Victoria stood back, as to not get crystal chips flung into her eyes. When they finished, they handed Victoria a chunk of crystal that was about the size of a small box that one would use to contain a single necklace or something similar. They held it out and nodded, and after Victoria gently took it from their hands, they went back to help the other Crystalings, who were rolling the crystal down the rooftop and onto a cart for transportation. Victoria waved as they rode away, but soon gained an excited smile afterwards.

This was working, and it was paying off! Soon she could be just as rich! She pocketed the crystal and began searching for more and more problems. She solved many of them with ease, and while not all of them rewarded crystals, she had to admit that this was kinda fun. She had practically zipped around the entirety of the cave...almost.

She wasn't keeping track of the time, but she didn't care. In the end, she had received quite a lot of gifts from her peers. She found herself talking to a group of them on her stroll around the place. She hadn't told them personal information of course. That would remain a secret.

"We simply cannot thank you enough for helping us out!" a girl Crystaling said.

"Oh, it's no big deal really. I'm here to help" Victoria replied, faking acting flattered.

“You really are a great friend though! If there’s anything WE can do for you, just let us know!” one Crystaling exclaimed.

“Aww, thank you!” Victoria replied, fake smiling as she walked away to tour the rest of the place.

“You can give me some jewels any day” she muttered with a sinister grin.


	8. Chapter 7: New Culture

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> More on Ice Floss's trek to the caves, with an unexpected surprise...

The forest trek had easily gone from hype to boredom in seconds. The group had rested overnight too, with Sombra scaring off the wild beasts that dared approach. They had eaten some of their snacks, and had started again early in the morning. Luckily nothing was chasing them this time. It was still calming, it was just...trees got boring after a while. 

The most disappointing part though, was that there was no actual trail to prove that they were going the right way. They had the map, sure, but saw no landmarks nearby whatsoever. Hail wished she could’ve left some sort of trail for them to follow if anyone got lost or needed to go back, but it was too late now. They were already very far from Inkopolis, and there was no going back.

To be honest, the overnight part was actually more exciting than the main adventure. It was kind of like camping, when everyone was together. It felt like a sleepover in the wilderness, and although the group was worried about more mutants showing up, Sombra, Ligera, and the rest of the guardians assured them that they would keep watch. And they had done it well. But now they were back to boredom.

They tried to play I Spy, but that wasn’t very fun when your surroundings largely consisted of trees. And other nature-y things that just kept repeating themselves over and over again (gee it's swell to finally me-wait wrong story). Whenever the forest opened up, or revealed part of the sky, the group would always stare at it. Even though there were few clouds in the sky, they made it a game to try and figure out what the clouds looked like. Most of the clouds were too thin or squiggly to make a proper decision, though.

“So um...what do you think these Crystalings are like?” Rosa asked.

Now THAT piqued the interest of a few members.

“Well, if they have ties to crystals, possibly crystal powers, then I would think they might be like us.” Indigo noted, putting a finger to his chin in thought.

“But do you think they have a hero group like us too?” Coral inquired, bouncing a little at the possibility. Heroes just like them...now that would be interesting.

“Perhaps they do. I would think their hero group would more like the Squidbeak than us, but you never know.” Verde answered the inkling, shrugging her shoulders as she walked at a leisurely pace.

“Yeah. I guess we would be considered more of a rogue Squidbeak, by that logic.” Flame muttered, putting his hands behind his head.

“Do you think they can play turf war properly? Ranked? Salmon Run? Do they even have those things there?” Rosa asked, positively glowing at the possibility of playing turf war with them. She seemed to have an increased breathing rate from it was well.

“Woah there tigerfish, take it easy with those questions! We don’t even really know how their ink works! How are we supposed to know if they can play turf war or not?” Indigo replied, glaring a little at the Sugar Splats leader.

“Geez, it was just a hypothetical question, Indigo! It’s not like I expected anyone to actually have the answer! Can’t we just speculate on the possibilities in peace?” Rosa shot back, glaring a little at the teal male inkling in return.

“Guys, guys, let’s not fight over speculation and opinions” Thorn said as a twig snapped off a tree behind him.

Hail continued forwards as everyone bickered behind her. She assumed the boredom of the trip had made everyone a little more short tempered than usual. It was understandable and all, it was just that she didn't want to be involved. Even if a bicker or chatter or whatever it was would make the trip go faster, it also had the risk of splitting the group apart. That was the last thing the group needed to do on this trip, especially if Victoria was involved.

She listened to them argue behind her, and was surprised when nobody else came up to her to talk to her. She was expecting Verde or Leaf or someone more responsible, but nope. Perhaps they were trying to get the others to stop with Thorn's help, she didn't know. She didn't want to look behind her and see the squabbling of her friends. If she could, she'd grab a bucket of ice water and dunk it over their heads, but unfortunately the group had no such thing at the moment. Also there were no streams or water sources nearby.

Hail groaned to herself at the current event, shaking her head in disappointment. She couldn’t take much more of this for much longer. Hopefully their destination was nearby, and then all of this would be over as quickly as it had started. Please, PLEASE BE- 

“Hey, we’re here!” Coral shouted excitedly.

Hail looked up from her moping state.

Sure enough, in front of the group was a HUGE cave that was outlined with small gems on the entrance. The inside of the cave walls and some areas of the cave floors had gems lining them as well. This sure seemed like the place, and luckily Victoria hadn’t shown up or she would have raided all of the gems from here by now. 

“Alright, now let’s get in before Victoria shows up!” Indigo said.

Everyone nodded, and all of them quickly dashed into the cave. They noticed the gem clusters getting denser and denser the further in they went. They all followed a soft light that seemingly came from the end of the tunnel. Once they got there, they paused to take a breather. Looking up, all of them were astounded by the view.

It really was the Crystal Cave, and man did it hold its reputation well. It had everything, from huge crystal stalactites and stalagmites, to crystals that glowed, to gems and jewels in the floor and paths, to neat houses also decorated with gems, to Victoria talking to the Crystalings, to crystals and such on rooftops and the ceilings, to-

Wait a second.

VICTORIA?!


	9. Chapter 8: New (Old) .... Personality?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ice Floss have made it to the caves, and it's time to confront Victoria! But will this confrontation work out in Ice Floss's favor?

Ice Floss stared.

No way.

Victoria had actually beaten them here. 

But why didn’t the Crystalings seem to be afraid of her? 

Ice Floss watched her talk with them. They seemed to be on good terms, but Ice Floss knew something was up. It was too good to be true. Perhaps she was trying to trick them? Persuade them?

“Do we...go up and say something? ANYTHING?” Coral asked worriedly, glancing at the rest of the team.

“I don’t think we have a choice” Hail muttered.

“Well, let’s just see how it goes…” Indigo replied nervously.

Ice Floss made their way down, having a look at the scenery. It was very pretty, and gave off a nice, calm vibe...well, without Victoria. Once they got on the main town path, they had a look around. There were shops, cafes, a weapon place, stalls selling things, even something that looked like a turf lobby further away. It was absolutely nothing like inkopolis.

They approached Victoria, who turned around to face them after a Crystaling had peeked around her to look at the newcomers.

"Oh, well if it isn't my old rivals..." Victoria grumbled.

"Rivals?" one Crystaling asked.

"Yes, yes, VERY old rivals. we had so many fights, some wins, some losses. Why they're here though, is something I don't understand. Perhaps they're here because they want to steal some of your gems, while I earned mine through hard work and helping you" Victoria lied.

Rosa gasped in disgust. How DARE she?! Hail also gave her the death stare, and she was pretty sure Sombra was too.

"WHAT?! That's BULLSQUIT! We'd NEVER do something like that!" Flame shouted.

"You're wrong to simply accuse us like that, especially when these Crystalings don't know what we're ACTUALLY like!" Leaf yelled.

One Crystaling, a young female girl, watched in interest. The group WAS right, Victoria had no right to simply accuse them like that without backing her statement up with proof. The girl was a little wary of the group, though. They didn't seem dangerous, but she just stayed quiet and watched. Victoria simply smiled without worry.

"Oh, you ARE right. These Crystalings don't know your REAL selves" she grinned.

"Vic, you'd BETTER not-"

"These group of inklings call themselves "Ice Floss" and are composed of two separate groups, Ice Ink and Sugar Splats. They each have their own elemental powers gotten by different means, making them EXTREMELY dangerous."

"HEY!" Verde shouted angrily.

"For example, Hail, the leader of Ice Ink, has the ability to freeze ink and use it as a weapon!"

Hail's death glare intensified.

"Rosa, the leader of Sugar Splats, doesn't exactly HAVE an ability yet, but...you should still be wary of her."

Rosa pouted angrily.

"Oh, and don't get me started on Thorn, he's a walking curse if you ask me" Victoria muttered.

Thorn gasped.

"Hey, I'm not-"

A stalactite fell down behind him and nearly hit a Crystaling walking nearby. They jumped out of the way just in time, though. Thorn heard the crash and quickly turned around, yelling a "sorry" to the confused Crystaling.

"See what I mean?" Victoria said, getting closer to the group of Crystalings.

"You're right, but...where's the proof of the other powers?" a Crystaling asked.

Hail had had enough of this. She stormed up to Victoria and grabbed her shoulder firmly, continuing to stare her down.

"Listen, you son of a bi-"

"LANGUAGE!" Leaf shouted, appalled.

"Right, whatever. Anywho, you'd better cut the crap with these lies, or else you're really gonna get it when these Crystalings are out of the way" Hail snarled.

"Hey look! Ice!"

Everybody watching glanced down at Victoria's shoulder, which had a thin layer of ice starting to coat it. Hail's fingertips were also getting a little covered with ice as well.

"S-see? There's your proof!" Victoria told the Crystalings.

Hail let go of Victoria, who shook off the ice. Everyone wanted to punch this woman so hard that her entire personnel was unrecognizable.

"I guess they really are dangerous..." one Crystaling whispered.

"Yeah, we have to be careful around them..." the Crystaling next to them whispered back.

Hail sighed at the nerve of this woman. She couldn't believe all of this was happening, and TODAY of all things. She just wanted to go back to her room and sit there for the rest of the day from this absurdity.

"You see? They are untrustworthy, and might steal your things. So you'd better increase security around them!" Victoria warned.

"Okay, we'll think about it. If you want to help us out, feel free" a Crystaling from earlier said.

"With pleasure" Victoria grinned.

Ice Floss had faced sticky situations, tauntings in turf war, people spreading rumors, everyday annoyances, and even broken friendships before, but nothing, NOTHING as horrible as this. It was probably because it was Victoria of all people. Had it been anyone, LITERALLY ANYONE ELSE, EVEN ALOHA FOR COD'S SAKE, they would have been better off. But no, it just HAD to be Victoria of ALL the people in the world that could've done it. And the Crystalings believed her.

“Now..." Victoria said, turning back to Ice Floss, "Do be some dears for us and please leave us be,” she sneered.

Almost all of the Crystalings she was with turned to face Ice Floss, who sat there in anticipation of what they would say. Tensions were high, and it remained so as the Crystaling began bombarding them with phrases that only proved the fact that they had sided with Victoria.

"You guys really are horrible people..."

"Leave us alone!"

"Go away already." 

Yeah, stop being so mean to her!” 

Ice Floss was in shock about the event that had just taken place in front of them. Victoria had gotten here just to form a fake alliance with the Crystalings so that they could give her gems. And, now that the Crystalings trusted her, they were on her side. They were defending her, and there really wasn’t any other way for Ice Floss to persuade them without coming off as rude. With no other option, Ice Floss hung their heads low, turned around, and walked away.


	10. Chapter 9: New Girl

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ice Floss meets a young crystaling girl

Ice Floss was currently walking away in shame after what had just taken place. They figured they could walk into a store or something to have a break after it all.

“Well, THAT could have gone better.” Rosa grumbled, kicking a stray rock to the side.

“Sorry about the damage, by the way.” Thorn uttered sheepishly, keeping his hands in his pockets and his gaze to the ground

“Thorn, it’s fine. I shouldn’t have lost control. Me losing my cool just solidified her point. I should’ve known she was going to do that.” Hail muttered, turning her gaze away from her teammates to focus on keeping her ice from forming on her fingers.

“Well, it’s over now. We can try again any day” Verde said calmly.

“Yeah, you know what? Why don’t we just take a breather and chill, we can come back and face her later now that we know she’s here.” Leaf said.

“I know, but it’s just...IRRITATING letting her get off easy like that” Hail groaned angrily.

“Okay, well, let’s discuss it over…um, FOOD! There’s a cafe right there that we can all go to to chill and relax”

“Alright, fine...whatever…” Hail mumbled.

They approached the cafe, which was only a few feet away from them. It looked pretty neat, with a dark purple roof and pink gems lined around it. Ice Floss was about to enter the cafe when suddenly-

“H-hey, wait up!”

Ice Floss paused. Turning around, they saw a young Crystaling girl run up to them. While they were initially a little unsure about her, they realized that this was their chance to set things right. When she paused to catch a breath in front of them, Hail walked over. The girl was actually pretty short in comparison to all of them, probably about 4 feet 11 inches or so.

“Hey” Hail said quietly, to get her attention.

“I DON’T LIKE THAT CAT LADY” the Crystaling quickly (and loudly) responded before resuming her huffing and panting from running.

Ice Floss exchanged glances, curious. So this girl already didn’t trust Victoria, eh? Well, she had made the right decision in coming to them or all people. They waited for her to catch her breath before trying to ask her anything. When she had recovered, they were surprised when she spoke first.

“Anywho, I think we should talk in the cafe. Too many ears out here. The guy running the place won’t mind” the girl said.

Ice Floss shrugged, and entered the cafe,the smell of pastries immediately filling the place. It was a surprising light blue inside, lit by various crystals within it. There was a single place in the back where you would order, and the menus were all on paper. All of them walked over to examine them, with a single male Crystaling behind the counter, on his phone.

“Wow, they got mint chocolate cookies! I love those!’ Hail exclaimed, mood brightening

“Really, Lee? The first thing you notice on the menu is the cookies? Why am I not surprised.” Indigo stated, shaking his head a little at his friend’s antics.

There were many other things though. Sandwiches, cupcakes, drinks of all sorts, and it all sounded nice too. Everyone had a hard time deciding what to get.

Once they were done ordering, Ice Floss all sat down at two connected tables.

“My name is Kristina! I use a Crystalshot Pro and my ranked level...is uh...B...but I’m assuming that’s irrelevant?” she said the last part sheepishly.

“Well, not really, but the important part is that you’ve sided with us” Flame said.

Leaf gave him a look, but said nothing.

“Yeah, I didn’t trust what she said. She had minimal proof. Do you guys ALL actually have powers?” Kristina asked.

Ice Floss exchanged glances.They weren’t quite sure if they should answer. On one hand, Kristina could still trust them if they told the truth. On the other, she could turn on them like the other Crystalings had done earlier. Hail sighed, deciding to take the risk and answer truthfully.

“Yes. Please, PLEASE don’t leave us for this though. We mean no harm, and that cat lady Victoria has twisted the truth” Hail replied, almost begging at this point. This kid could be their key to victory, they just had to make sure not to lose her to lies.

“Wh...what?! How?!” Kristina exclaimed.

Hail took in a deep breath.

“Well……”

Kristina leaned in closer to be able to listen better.

“You see, we’re actually a hero group, and Victoria is one of our old foes. She was initially after me for my ice ink, but I guess her one brain cell finally realized that ice melts, so she targeted you guys...I don’t know how she found out though. She wants to make money on the black market with jewelry, so that’s probably why she’s here” Hail explained.

“Ugh, I hate her even more now! Don’t worry, I’ll help you guys stop her in any way I can!” Kristina said, pouting at the fact that that nasty old lady was just a liar. 

She was probably here to trick the others into giving her gems, too. Kristina knew how generous yet easily deceived most Crystalings could be.

“Great! But uh...how do your powers work?” Rosa asked.

Kristina raised an eyebrow and tilted her head.

“Powers?”

“Yeah, don’t you have crystal powers?” Rosa said.

“Uh, no? That’s not how it works. We just shoot liquid crystal that evaporates into the cave if it’s not contained in a special metal” Kristina replied blatantly.

“What kind of metal?” Verde asked.

“Some expensive kind found deep within these caves...it’s very rare, but only we Crystalings know where it is” Kristina explained.

“Interesting...very interesting…” Indigo said, narrowing his eyes.

“No wonder Victoria is after you guys…” Flame muttered.

“Yeah. But she won’t get anywhere in catching us if she can’t find that metal!” Kristina said happily.

Coral smiled.  
“You’re right!”

Ice Floss had a good laugh about it for a minute or two.

But little did they know…

Victoria had listened from behind a building.

And now she had an idea.


	11. Chapter 10: New Plan

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Victoria plans a scheme to get rid of Ice Floss... as well as raiding the cave

Victoria had gone back outside to see her minions. They needed to come up with a plan to get those gems and a Crystaling or two, and flee. She knew now that only the Crystalings knew where that metal was, so she’d need to really up their trust if she was going to get it. Once she got outside, she found her nyakuza thugs sitting close to the hidden cart. They noticed her as she returned, and turned towards her.

“Oh, she’s back!” one thug exclaimed, sitting up off of the grass.

“So what’s the plan, boss?” another thug asked, ready for action.

“Well, I was thinking that we make a net tipped with this strange but rare metal from the caves, and we use it to turn the Crystalings into solid crystal. I’m assuming the crystal returns to ink when the contact with the metal is lost” Victoria explained.

“So you’re saying we gotta go minin’?” a thug said.

“Exactly, but we must be careful with it. We don’t want the Crystalings knowing our true intentions” Victoria mumbled.

“Right!”

“Got it!”

Luckily, the cart was stocked with picks, explosives, and other mining tools. They had come prepared for the situation. One nyakuza thug carefully dug out the cart from the leaves. Once it was out, they opened a secret hatch on the side of it, and began passing around the tools. Each nyakuza thug got a hammer, chisel, and a pick. Victoria meanwhile, did not get any of these, as it was her job to keep her friendship with the Crysalings up and stable.

The group had made a plan of digging in the backside of the cave, as that would probably cause the least amounts of distraction. Victoria meanwhile, needed a new weapon. Her Kensa Shot Pro had advantages, but it also had disadvantages. She needed something that could give her an upper edge on all of Ice Floss’s weapons, and it probably wouldn’t be your average turfing weapon. It was going to be stronger, and way more powerful.

She could use her rocket launcher, but she hadn’t brought it for the trip. Maybe because she had been super nice to the Crystalings, they would let her use a weapon from the shop. After her thugs began their trip to the back of the cave, she re-entered, making sure she didn’t confront Ice Floss again. After asking around, a kind Crystaling helped her find the weapon store. The Crystaling inside recognized her and welcomed her in as she examined the walls.

Splattershots decorated with gems, yet not labeled with “deco” were an odd sight to see. Rollers that looked like they had just been made with crystal pillars and finely cut jewels were laid out in a neat and organized pattern. Blasters, Brellas, Sloshers, Brushes, Chargers, Splatlings and the like. All very neatly placed, and the lights from the ceiling of the room reflected off the gemstones on them. However, none of these were what Victoria was looking for.

She needed something that could overpower all of this. Heck, maybe something that didn’t even use a sub weapon or special. Maybe something like a sword or something. She wondered what she would have to do to get that sort of thing, though. She calmly walked over to the counter, and the Crystaling noticed her.

“Ah! Hello! What can I help you with today?”  
“Hello. I was just looking for a weapon. Would you happen to have anything that I could use against those, very dangerous, Ice Floss, now, would you?”

“Oh? And none of these weapons here seem to suit your fancy?”

“No, unfortunately not, I need something big, yet easy to use. Something to overpower their standard turf weapons.”

“Hmm...well, in return you must run a few errands for me, but seeing as how you helped us with earlier tasks, I assume that won’t be a problem?”

“No, that shouldn’t be a problem. In fact, I would be delighted to help.” Victoria stated, faking a smile

“In that case…” the Crystaling paused to make sure nobody else heard, “Follow me.”

They took Victoria to a room in the back, and unlocked it. The door was shut and locked behind them as they walked down the stairs to the basement area. The basement area ALSO had a door, which was unlocked. The two made it in, and again the door was locked behind them. Upon entering, Victoria was in AWE of what she saw. 

This room contained the REALLY good stuff, like swords, ACTUAL guns, blades, shields, armor, and some super fancy stuff. All of it was still bedazzled with gems though.

“Take a look around.”

Victoria did.

Now this kind of stuff would be absolutely ILLEGAL in turf war. No subs, no specials, all destruction. She picked up a sword from a rack and swung it. Hmm, wasn’t so bad, but probably could have a chance or wedging it somewhere, or having rocks fall on it, or having Hail freeze it to the ground. Too risky, so she put it back.

She tried a gun. Easy to pick up, easy to use, she even fired at a test target that was pinned up on the basement walls, and it had pretty decent accuracy. Only problem was, most of these were pretty small. They could easily be blown out of her hand if she wasn’t careful, and a misfire or missed shot could mean her doom. She set that one down, not wanting to use it either.

Suddenly, she spotted it.

Golden handle, two sides seemingly composed of diamond, or some other clear crystal, and VERY easy to hold and use.

She liked this one.

But wait.

Was there a catch?

“Um...how much for this?” she asked, turning to the Crystaling.

“If it sustains very little damage, it’s free to rent if you give it back.”

OH-HO-HO, SHE LIKED THAT a-LOT!

Of course, it wasn’t like she was planning on keeping it, especially considering she just needed it to get rid of Ice Floss. She could come back here and rent it as many times as she needed, as long as is sustained little to no damage. This was a lot for her to take in. She began laughing quietly to herself. This was amazing…

“Soon, the moment I’ve always dreamt of will come true!”

“Soon, I will become the RICHEST in the black market!”

“And soon…”

Victoria smiled sinisterly, a glint in her eyes.

“The millions I always dreamt of will be mine.”


	12. Chapter 11: New Place

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ice Floss and Kristina chat awhile, and Ice Floss gets a tour of the caves

Ice Floss and Kristina had a great time badmouthing Victoria and chatting with her while they ate their food they ordered. It was very delicious, and well worth their time. They had to admit, she was a good friend. Of course, they hadn’t seen her turf skills, but if she was good enough to rank up to a B at least, it was good enough for them. Not that that was important though.

Their discussion with her had also increased as well. She had explained a bit of the Crystaling culture, as well as how Crystalings came to be. Long ago, there was apparently once a certain kind of fish that was supposed to have rock hard scales, but a mutation in its genes gave it crystal scales instead. A squid came by and ate it, and the many offspring that survived had the crystal gene as well. It developed more and more over time, and soon it became permanent to that one species. Said squids had also evolved with the other cephalopods when the tides rose and inklings soon developed.

However, the very first Crystalings made actually produced firm crystal ink, and even their tentacles were made out of it. This made them hunted by many other species, often for bad intentions. The species developed as more and more of them got killed off or hunted, and had slowly separated as well. This lead to the modern day, where their ink wouldn't remain crystal, and their tentacles only had the crystal pattern. It was the closest they got to reducing their abilities to avoid being hunted...other than also hiding in places.

A topic of conversation was personal life, and while Kristina and Ice Floss didn't give each other much, they did exchange SOME information.

“Hey, you said you were at B rank earlier, right? Do you have a team?” Rosa asked, intrigued

“Team? Oh! Nah, I don’t have one!” Kristina replied casually.

Ice Floss thought. Could they invite her to the team? Would that be so bad? She wouldn’t exactly have a power, but then again...Rosa...didn’t? She had a guardian of course, but no signs of magic popping up, which was strange. 

Kristina wouldn’t be that different, she just might attract more attention is all. And maybe she’d have to live with someone else. And maybe the other inklings would see her and...yeah no. They couldn’t, even if they wanted to. Victoria would always be after her, and they’d be sure to be an even bigger target to other foes if they weren’t careful.

“Ah, okay...do you at least have friends?” Hail asked.

“Yeah, I do, but they can’t turf yet because their parents say they need to be a little bit older" Kristina replied with a shrug.

Ah, that was good. That meant that she could get a turfing group later, and Ice Floss wouldn't have to worry about her being alone. She probably had a family here too...wait.

"Do you...have a family here?" Thorn asked, almost dropping his snack as he said that.

"Of course I do! They don't know about you guys though. They're good people, I promise."

Ok, good thing she wasn't an orphan. Not that it...really mattered, but still. She had a nice life here with few problems. Ice Floss wouldn't have to go feral on any abusive parents. What a relief.

“Anywho, I can take y/all on a tour of the place if ya want!” Kristina said suddenly, smiling.

Ice Floss exchanged glances. Well, maybe they could, if Kristina was leading the way. They were still unsure though, as the Crystalings probably still didn’t trust them. They didn’t want to give Kristina a bad reputation from it. But at the same time, she was their only Crystaling ally at the moment, and they kinda needed a tour around the place…

Flame shrugged.  
“Sure, why not."

“I’m down” Indigo said.

“Let’s go!" Coral shouted.

Everyone made sure they paid for their meals before standing up out of their chairs and walking to the exit. They left the building, and started walking down the pebble-jewel path. Kristina took them to a lot of places, actually. The turf lobby, the clothing and shoe place, more food areas, gift shops and jewelry places, even the weapon shop. The weapon shop owner recognized the group and didn't let them in, so they could only stare through the clear glass windows of the place.

The weapons looked really cool, as if someone had taken a turf weapon and sprinkled gems over it like it was a cookie or cake or ice cream or something. They couldn't see too many from where they were though. That was okay, as they easily moved on from the place to the next store. Hail had to admit, she kinda wanted to buy a few things from here. They were all so pretty...but they were probably worth a whole lot too. As the group passed a jewelry stall, she noticed one gemstone pendant was worth quite a lot (about the human equivalent of a few hundred dollars).

Yeah, she wouldn't be able to afford these things. Even if she and her friends combined their money, it still could probably only buy two or three things. She was curious as to why they were so much though, especially considering there were gemstones all around the place and the metal that held a Crystaling's ink was rare. Perhaps these were genuine stones that had been mined for or something. Maybe it was a rare kind of gem.

As Ice Floss walked though the place with Kristina leading them, they began to mentally map the place. Chances were, they'd have to fight Victoria in here. They needed all the advantages they could get, and having an entire tour of the place definitely helped them a lot. Of course, Victoria had probably already gotten a tour here via the Crystalings, which was probably better compared to one Crystaling giving the tour. Nonetheless, information was information, whether there was little, whether it was vague, whether it was few or not.

And they were forming a plan.

They were going to get their revenge.


End file.
